THE missing persons’ saga in our country is decades-old. Many people from various parts of the country were ‘disappeared’ and are still missing. Social activists, media persons, and ‘nationalists’ were abducted from time to time. Many turned up dead or brutally tortured.

The recent disappearance of human rights activist and professor of Fatima Jinnah Women’s University Salman Haider is a matter of great worry and has raised many questions.

Disappearances seem to suggest that the democratic state has failed to protect the basic rights of its citizens such as the right to life, right to freedom of expression and the right to move freely from one place to another within the country.

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice against missing persons, but the performance of the government and its security institutions in this regard was not up to the mark. Pakistan is a democratic state; the government should pay heed to this decades-old issue and ensure a peaceful life for all its citizens. The saga of the missing persons must come to an end in keeping with the fundamental rights of the people.

Sajjad Ahmed Kalhoro

Kandiaro

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2017